KLAIPĖDA, LITHUANIA—Live Science reports that a man’s remains were found under a layer of sand and silt at the bottom of Lake Asveja, which is located in eastern Lithuania, during work to reconstruct a bridge. Archaeologist Elena Pranckėnaitė of Klaipėda University said the man is thought to have died in the sixteenth century, and that currents deposited the sediments on his remains over time. An iron sword and two knives with wooden handles found with the skeleton suggest that the man had been a soldier, she added. Pranckėnaitė and her team members also recovered his leather boots with spurs and a leather belt with a buckle. An earlier survey of the area showed that a bridge stood in the same place during the time that the man lived. “For now, we assume that those discovered human remains could be linked with the former bridge leading to Dubingiai castle, which was situated on the hilltop on the shore of Asveja Lake,” Pranckėnaitė explained. The remains and artifacts are being conserved at the National Museum of Lithuania. To read about analysis of remains of Napoleon's soldiers recovered from Vilnius, Lithuania, go to "The Grand Army Diet."
